Chemistry Reference
In-Depth Information
chemicals are used in chemistry lessons. Wanjek [
6
] scheduled the unit “acids and
bases” for several 9th classes of a comprehensive school in M
unster, Germany. In
student-run experiments, household chemicals were tested with universal indicator,
and the usage of acidic and basic cleaners was analyzed and neutralizations of
special samples of these cleaner solutions were performed. The lessons were given
by different chemistry teachers of the school; they needed about 6 school hours in
3 weeks. The students in five classes were asked about their interests before and
after the lectures - and also about the experiments they had carried out themselves.
The results of the questionnaire show that students' interest increases after those
lectures concerning “acids and bases.” Especially the girls expressed a lack of
interest before the lessons, but afterward the interest increased noticeably. The
effect of the experiments students carried out was even bigger: girls as well as boys
expressed an interest in these hands-on experiments. Regarding the combination of
household chemicals and experiments, the results show a higher interest by the girls
in comparison to the boys: for the girls, the household chemicals combined with
hands-on experiments are more interesting than for boys.
Attitudes to chemistry and chemistry classes.
In a study with a large number of
participants, M
€
uller-Harbich, Wenck und Bader [
7
] discovered that students barely
make differences between attitude to chemistry and chemical education: “Students
who possess a positive attitude to their chemical lessons at school also have an
open-minded attitude to chemistry. But especially students with an affective
positive attitude to environmental problems have a negative attitude to chemistry
and vice versa. The observed attitude of the girls expresses the general opinion: who
is involved in ecological activities, refuses the chemistry” [
7
].
Heilbronner and Wyss [
8
] assigned students from Switzerland to paint their
images of chemistry and wanted to detect their attitudes to chemistry. The frequent
disasters of chemical industries in the late 1970s were reflected in the results:
two-thirds of the images offer negative motives of environmental damages
(see Fig.
8.3a
), of threatening mankind and of animal experiments. The conclusion
of the authors has been: “The chemistry teacher is probably the only one who starts
his instruction in front of a class which has formed a bad opinion about the
worthiness of the new school subject chemistry” [
8
].
In the late 1990s, Hilbing invited students in the area of Munster, Germany, to
paint “their image of chemistry,” in order to investigate to what extent this problem
still exists [
9
]. These pictures feature positive motives mixed with negative ones
(see Fig.
8.3b
). Hilbing [
9
] could assert that only 35% of the boys and 16% of
the girls have painted motives, which predominantly reflect negative attitudes.
Compared to the results from Switzerland, the percentage of negative motives has
nearly divided in half.
In addition to the paintings, a questionnaire was given to the students. The results
referring to the attitude of
chemistry
[
9
], assert that 65% of the boys are giving a
positive opinion but girls only to the extent of 33%. After asking about the attitude
toward
chemistry lessons
only a smaller number gave a positive answer, namely
31% of the boys and 18% of the girls. So the positive attitudes toward chemistry in
general are unexpectedly higher than those toward chemical education.
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